Understanding Business – September 2023

This issue of the new quarterly survey, Understanding Business, follows up on challenges businesses expressed in June, while exploring attitudes towards government responsiveness and Net Zero. You can read the report here.

A majority of businesses believe that economic conditions have deteriorated in the last year, and many expect conditions to continue to deteriorate over the next year. Despite this pessimistic outlook, expectations on turnover have remained stable from those observed in June and less businesses are predicting decreases in profit in the next year.

A vast majority of businesses (68%) expressed that they are supportive of Net Zero goals. However, this did not come without caveats. Nearly three in four believe that ending oil and gas exploration would not benefit the economy and almost half (44%) say it would not benefit the environment. Businesses also highlighted major barriers that impede progress towards Net Zero goals.

In light of these challenges, a majority of businesses believe that neither the Scottish nor the UK Governments are taking action to address business concerns, despite suggested interventions such as reductions in taxation and business rates.